Learning to Adjust
by Midnight Starshine
Summary: Ambrosia is a normal girl. That is, until one summer a dormant gene is activated and she turns into a mutant freak. Confused and threatened, can Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters find her before she does something she'll regret? Will she ever learn to accept what she has become? Please read me...
1. Chapter 1

"Nooooooooo, I don't wanna!" I cried, my voice high and whiney. I was dragging my feet and barely moving, desperate to avoid my coming fate. Heavy perfumes and unwashed bodies assaulted my nose with their horrid smell, paired with the overbearingly loud chatter from hundreds of teenagers made for a migraine inducing setting. I turned around abruptly and tried to go back home, but they had me already.

"Let's go, you big crybaby," Brianna said, holding me by the arm and dragging me to the school doors. Her grip was strong, and as she pulled me backwards I remembered how strong she really was. I guess her tall stature and muscled frame wasn't all for show. "Besides, you have so much to catch up on anyway."

"She is right," Eric added in. He was walking next to us, watching with an amused expression. I glared at him but he didn't care. "If you ever take off a whole week again without saying anything we are going to have to keep you chained up in our basement."

I snorted with amusement, "That's a dirty thought!" Eric laughed and didn't say anything, but Brianna shot me a look from over her shoulder. "What?"

"Seriously though Amy, what happened?"

"Amy? God, I hate that name. Everyone just assumes I want to be called Amy, no ones asks if I like my full name, they just assume I want a nickname," I rambled, weaseling out of the budding conversation. "I really love my name, it's so pretty."

Eric laughed again. I guessed he knew what I was doing, based on the look in his eyes. "No one is going to call you Ambrosia, that's weird. Almost as weird as you wearing a hat!"

"My hat is not weird!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Enough!" Brianna yelled. I looked up and her to see her mockingly angry. "You two act like toddlers! Geez."

I smiled and straightened up, might as well walk in on my own. I followed after when Eric and Brianna started walking, chatting about something. They were twins, and poor Brianna was tall and buff like her brother. They both play sports, dominating whatever field they play on, and are well know to be extremely competitive. They were also super sweet, always joking and laughing and cheering everyone around them up. It was a little disappointing to know that despite how similar they are in _everything_, their names are nothing alike. Who has twins and doesn't name them something cute like Adian and Nadia?

The glass doors in front of me were daunting and formidable. I wanted to just crawl back home and never come back, things were too different now. Yet I couldn't do that, I couldn't be a coward and run from everything. A week is long enough, especially since I only attended the first day of school before that. Missing so much of that crucial transition period from summer to school wasn't a thing one should ever do. I took a deep breath before entering through the doors that were held open for me. Eric smiled at me when I passed, and I did my best to hide all my fear and smile back.

"So how was your trip?"

Great, Brianna had to bring it up, didn't she? I should have know she would be curious though, I've been too secretive lately and she wasn't going to have anymore of it. I made eye contact with her and and replied as casually as I could. "Oh fine, just hanging out with my Grandma, nothing overly fun or interesting."

"Oh, did you meet anyone?" Eric asked.

I knew what he meant, but I wanted to mess with them. "Well," I began, turning my head to the side and smiling as dreamily as I could. "She had this neighbor."

"And?" Brianna demanded, her face curious and excited. Eric looked much the same, though not as much as his sister.

I giggled, hugging myself with my arms and sighed. "We hung out a lot, rain or shine, and he was so cute!"

"Go on!" Eric this time, seemed like he was getting into it the more I spoke.

"I just couldn't stay away from him! And he was so good with the neighborhood kids too." Brianna looked about to squeal and pounce on me so I hurried up and finished. "He was such a sweet boy, always wagging his tail and playing fetch. Such a good dog."

"I hate you sometimes Amy," Brianna muttered, death practically written in her eyes. Eric nodded his agreement, his tough guy attitude slipping with the disappointment for lack of gossip.

"Tsk, tsk. How often need I tell you I prefer Ambrosia!"

"No one is going to call you that," they said in unison. It was fun when they did that, and the deadpan voice just made it all the better. I laughed and for a moment, I forgot everything that was troubling me. It no longer mattered that I could practically hear everyone in the hall breathe, and I forgot that I could smell the nasty mac and cheese being made in the kitchens. I was sad to see the good feeling go.

* * *

Math was boring, as usual, but at least it wasn't gym. The quadratic formula stared back at me from the polished whiteboard, daring me to focus and learn its mathematical intricacies. My pen tapped my lip in rhythm with the teacher's heartbeat, Mrs. Bellia, the only person I focused on in a vain attempt to block out most things. The soft hum of electronics rung in my ears and the constant shuffle of thirty bodies made me want to scream. The tick of the clock on the wall was slow, but I couldn't decide if I wanted it to speed up or slow down.

The moment the bell rang I decided on slow.

I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, moving out the door with everyone else. I tried to go slowly and take my time, but the mass of students forced me to move at their pace. Laughing voices and smiling face seemed unbearable right then, and I felt like I might pass out. No matter how many times I check, my schedule didn't change. Gym was next.

All too soon I found myself in the girl's locker room, standing in front of an open locker Brianna shared with me. She was already changing but I didn't want to or else I would have to go out there. Brianna and a few other girls looked at me funny but I didn't care, if I didn't change I couldn't play.

"C'mon Amy, today is floor hockey, you love floor hockey," she said. Her voice was concerned, but at least she didn't ask. I nodded and gulped, finally grabbing my clothes and scurrying to the stalls for privacy.

I locked the door and leaned against it, drudging up all my courage and started disrobing. I tried to force myself not to, but I looked. Swinging back and forward violently was a tail. It was bushed up a bit, most likely from my nervous state, and coal black. If I couldn't move it at will and if it wasn't the same color as my hair, I might be able to deny that it was attached to me. I took a deep breath and decided to air out my ears as well. My ears snapped up in newfound freedom and my hat rested in my hands. They swiveled to catch more sound than before, perched atop my head they were the exact same as a cat's.

There was a knock at the door and Brianna called out, "Hey Amy, are you okay in there?" I responded in an affirmative and she spoke again before walking out. "Okay, class is starting soon, hurry up."

I threw on my gym clothes and tucked my ears in my hat, wrapping my tail around my waist and holding it there. The bathroom door squeaked as I opened it and stepped out. I hurried out of the locker room and into the gymnasium. I noticed I wasn't the last to arrive, and Brianna and Eric were there so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I walked over to them and smiled, mouth closed of course.

"Where is the teacher?" I asked. Brianna and Eric looked around and shrugged, changing the topic to the game we were about to play. I took a gander myself, frowning at the _displeasing_ other students. Not that Eric and Brianna didn't get along with everyone, no it's just me who doesn't sit right with everyone. Especially a certain bottle blonde bimbo and her vicious following.

Who just had to share the same class as myself.

As if highschool drama wasn't enough, I knew that she knew. I knew she knew that I knew she knew, and that's bad too. Because her father just happened to be the doctor who checked out my 'condition' when it first started. When the pain was so excruciating that I couldn't move, she watched with some sort of morbid fascination. While I was bombarded with x-rays and I.V.s, she taunted me with her prissy normalness. And when it was seen that there was nothing the doctors could do to stop the expansion of my spine into a soft tail and the disgusting loss of my human ears for cat ones, she came to me and told me she wouldn't let me live out senior year normally. She told me she would expose me to everyone, and that was far scarier than any mutated genes. Isolation from society due to snubbing was awful to even imagine. Not that I was very social and my only life was my social life, I just knew I wouldn't be ignored. I would be targeted.

I took a chance and looked at her, only to see her looking at me. Her lips slowly curled upwards and her perfectly white teeth were revealed in a nasty smile that was a borderline snarl. Her barbie perfect features contorted into a monstrous she-devil, and I swear I could hear her in my head.

_"I will ruin you."_

* * *

**Alright! So, I have no idea where I want this to go, but I want it to be cute and romantic. I'm partial to Logan, but I'd love to hear other ideas. Type to me your thoughts and feelings, and lend me any preference you may have to where this story will go. Because honestly, I have no clue where this is going... Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

There wasn't a person in the world who could convince me that public education was a sound system of equal opportunities and social growth. I toughed it out, though, and after a month of uninteresting events, I deemed myself safe from public persecution. No one has seen my new "accessories," and Elicia hasn't made due on her promise, yet. It would have been easy for her, given that she was "different" too. Lucky her, it was all in the inside.

Despite my relative security, I didn't feel safe. Not a day went by when I wasn't checking over my shoulder, waiting for something bad to happen. Life was quiet, too quiet. She watched me, I could tell, but she wasn't making any moves. Her goonies giggled behind their perfectly manicured hands, they pointed and stared, but they never even spoke to me. I was beginning to think she just wanted to slowly drive me crazy with paranoia.

Not that I minded, I would prefer a little batty mentality, rather than face an angry mob. There was nothing scarier than the mob mentality, not even mutant flying spiders. If I was the monster, they were the scared villagers with the torches and pitchforks. I was scary, new, innovative, I could be the future, but I would always live in the darkness. I would always be shunned by those inferior minds that shy from change in any form. I guess history does repeat itself. Or folktales, in my case.

Of course the silence couldn't last long. Not when the sad excuse for a public school's elite were on your tail, literally.

The day was normal, boring and mundane. I was walking with Brianna towards the science level for our chemistry class. We were giggling as she told me about Eric's latest prank.

"And then- And then he jumped from around the corner in a full gorilla costume," she paused and tried to speak through her laughs. "I swear she screamed louder than a banshee and threw her phone at him!" We broke into another fit of laughter, despite the slight meanness of the act. They were always doing that sort of thing though, scaring the wits from their poor mother. She was such a nice lady, and I always felt a little bad at the stories they would tell me.

We had reached the top of the stairwell, heading down. I turned to Brianna and was about to ask her a question, when a pair of hands touched my back. Time seemed to slow as they pushed, the smile quickly replaced with a look of horror.

It all happened in a few short seconds.

I twisted and contorted my body, turning to see Elicia's lacky, Jamie. Her lips were twisted in a sick and sadistic smile, eyes glinting with malice. I turned my attention to the hard flooring that was quickly coming closer and it took all my self restraint to fight my urge to let my tail out and let it balance me out. I contorted my body and threw my arms out to catch myself. They hit the cold tile and crumbled under me, my body rolling unceremoniously down the small flight of steps.

I heard Brianna call my name, her footsteps thundering as she ran over to me. I groaned in pain as I dragged my arms from under me and pushed myself into a sitting position. Brianna was by my side now, fretting about and flinging questions at me faster than I could comprehend them.

"Woah there, I'm good," I said, stilling Brianna's hands before she started poking me to see if I hurt anywhere. Which I did. Everywhere. I looked around and for the first time noticed the severe lack of fellow students. It was like they all knew something was going to go down and made themselves scarce. For all I knew they did know, but there was one person still lingering. "Jamie, you think you could give me a hand here?"

She looked unsure for a second and then carefully approached. I asked Brianna to get a book of mine that had disappeared down the hallway and I waited for Jamie to get close. He heels clicked in an annoying fashion, and she took her time. I waited patiently, holding a mental debate whether or not to ignore what just happened or retaliate. It wasn't in my nature to lie on my back and submit, but they just shoved me down a freakin' flight of stairs. My anger was boiling just below the surface, and if I had my way I would be tearing into her throat with my retractable claws. Pain rolled through my in waves, fueling my fury, but at least my mutantness came with a built in healing potion. The doctors called it super regeneration, and it was one of the few things I liked about the "changes."

I lifted my hand up for Jamie to take, and she carefully considered it before 'trying' to help me to my feet. I got up, and it took all my willpower to stay on my feet and not crumple in pain. We would up face to face, her looking uncomfortable with my slightly superior height. Well, her hair more than made up for the difference, but I don't think she counted it.

"Thanks Jamie," I smiled, still deciding how to deal with this. I quickly decided I would be threatening, yeah, that sounded good. "I'm glad you were there to help me up, especially after you were the one to push me down."

Her face betrayed her for a moment, a brief look of horror crossing over her features before she schooled them into a smug look. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't, you aren't intelligent enough to understand the words coming out of my mouth."

She looked offended, almost like I had just called her mother a fat hoe, even though I just pointed out that her mind functioned at a lower level. "I'll have you know I do know what your words mean, I just don't know what you are suggestion."

"I am insinuating that you shoved me down a flight of stairs by orders of your prissy little pack leader." I leaned in, grabbing her arm in a bruising grip and extending my little claws into the flesh of her arm. She squealed in pain and tried to struggle free, but I held strong. I laughed a little as I whispered in her ear, "Just let her know that this means war, and I am a killing machine."


End file.
